So over the past week and 1 day, the MBS market is trading up +100 bps and rates have improved dramatically after going higher in hurry the week before last.

We still stand in a market where rates will likely stay low, but if they do go up, they can go up quickly. All eyes this week are on Ben Bernanke’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic conference on Friday. Experts are about 50/50 on whether the FED will ease and buy more mortgage backed securities in the future. This speculation and Europe’s debt situation has dominated mortgage markets for most of this year.

The Fed will move to ease if it thinks the economy needs it. I don’t see it happening as the past 2 Fed purchase programs have kept rates low, but they haven’t improved the economic numbers and have bloated the FED’s balance sheet. Either way, expect rate movement in one direction or the other depending on what Bernanke hints towards in his speech.

College football is here, and my family and I are super excited. Growing up in Michigan, I have always been a huge Michigan Wolverine Fan. On a trip to Michigan this week, I was able to visit the Big House and catch a glimpse of Denard Robinson outside Schembechler Hall. Very cool – here is my son and hopefully future Wolverine, at the gates of the big house.